She looked up at Reid and the truth hit her all at once. She’d been wrong! So incredibly wrong! “I’m sorry!” she whispered, unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks now. “I’m so sorry!”
“Talk to me, honey. What happened in your past that would cause you to think anyone would say something like that,” he urged.
Selena shuddered as the memories hit her. The memories and his tenderness. He was such a raw, powerful man but at the moment, he was…kind. Gentle.
Could she tell him? Could she bring back the memories and say them out loud?
He reached into his pocket and Selena gasped as the ring sparkled in the moonlight.
“I want you Selena,” he said softly. “Not just for the weekend or for the week or the next month. I want you forever. I want every part of you.” He slid the ring onto her finger and Selena couldn’t stop the tears from falling
“Oh Reid,” she whispered, wanting to pull her hand away but she kept it still, waiting until the ring was all the way on. “It’s beautiful. But…”
“No buts, Selena. Talk to me. Let’s build a life together, but tell me about the minefield that is your past.”
She covered her mouth, trying to stop another sob, but it was pointless. After this afternoon, she wanted, needed, his arms around her. “You really don’t…”
“Never!” he insisted. “I don’t think of you like that and I would never think of any woman like that. And when we have kids, our sons will grow to respect women as equals and we’ll teach our daughters to kick the butts of any male who doesn’t respect them.”
Such precious words! So amazing to hear! She couldn’t hold back any longer. Throwing herself into his arms, she sobbed against his chest.
His arms closed around her, pulling her in close. “Would you tell me what happened? What someone did to you?”
He felt her stiffen but he only tightened his arms around her, trying to reassure her. “I can’t!” she finally whispered.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, squeezing her tightly. “I think it is important, Selena.”
He carried her over to one of the lounge chairs. The darkness surrounded them and he continued to hold her, waiting for the trembling to subside. Slowly, the shivers stopped and her breathing evened out, but he knew that she hadn’t fallen asleep. She might not be shivering, but she was still tense.
“Was it in high school or college?” he prompted, wishing he could find the boys who had done this to her and pummel them.
There was a long silence and he could feel the debate inside of her. “Both,” she finally admitted.
His arms tightened again. “What happened in high school? Is that when the anorexia…hit you? Developed? I don’t know the right terms to use, I apologize. ”
“I developed anorexia in college. I got help before I had to be hospitalized though. So that’s something.”
“What happened in high school?”
She laughed, a harsh sound. “I was chubby in high school. There wasn’t just one thing that happened in high school, it was just a series of small stabs. The cheerleaders mocking me for my weight, running in gym class.” She shifted. “I think that gym teachers are evil. They are so athletic, that they don’t understand how an unathletic person can fumble around. It’s like programming comes pretty naturally to some people. Others are gifted with the ability to read body language and are excellent sales people. Gym teachers are just naturally athletic.” She looked up at him. “Some are good teachers and I’m generalizing unfairly. But my high school gym teachers were horrible. They humiliated me when I couldn’t run as fast as the others in class. They taunted me in the locker room. They never stopped any of the other girls in class from saying mean things to me.” She sighed, pressing her face into his chest. “If a student is bad in English or history and gets a bad score on a test, the student can hide the test score and their failure isn’t as public. But in gym class, every failure is right there in the open. The unathletic student has no way to hide. And gym teachers are infamous for just telling people to ‘do it’ and not actually teaching.”